The goal of this five-day FASEB Summer Research Conference will be to bring together scientists at the forefront of research on an interrelated set of post-transcriptional regulatory processes: mRNA degradation, the cytoplasmic addition, removal, and function of 3' poly (A) tails, and the processing and maturation of rRNA and tRNA. Each of these fields has recently enjoyed exciting advances that have greatly influenced thinking about these key biological processes. Despite their regulatory importance in all organisms and their relevance to human disease, these topics typically receive only superficial attention at other meetings. A key feature of the conference will be the inclusion of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic systems. Excluding either class of organisms would impose an unnecessary distinction that would limit cross-fertilization of ideas. Post-transcriptional processes not to be covered at the conference will include mRNA splicing, nuclear polyadenylation, mRNA localization, and aspects of translation unrelated to poly(A) or mRNA degradation; all of these topics receive considerable attention at other meetings. Five previous conferences of this sort have been highly successful. Based on conversations with others in the field, no conferences with a similar focus appear to be scheduled for 1998. By convening a conference in 1998 that brings together scientists investigating the mechanism and regulation of these closely interrelated biochemical processes in eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells, we hope to provide a forum for a lively discussion of recent discoveries and theories that will stimulate new ideas, promote scientific collaboration, and influence the direction of future research in the field. To facilitate communication among the conferees, the meeting will be limited to about 125 participants, each of whom will be expected to attend the entire conference. The invited speakers will include many of the most productive and innovative researchers in these fields. Younger scientists (junior PIs, postdoctoral fellows, and senior graduate students) will also be encouraged to attend the meeting, and opportunities will be provided for them to be selected to present their research in the conference's plenary sessions. All speakers will be urged to focus on their latest unpublished data and emerging hypotheses and models.